Game 75: Power play damnation

The Buffalo Sabres didn't play all that badly in a 3-0 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, but it was another shining example of how their poor power play has kneecapped them all year.

Red and black uniforms weren’t able to help the Sabres against Toronto on Saturday night. (Photo: Joe Yerdon)

BUFFALO — All things considered, the Buffalo Sabres performance against the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 3-0 loss on Saturday night wasn’t bad.

They generated shots and chances galore but Ilya Samsonov was sensational in goal for the Leafs. It happens.

The Sabres did cause some of their own mistakes that led to Nick Robertson’s goal that made it 2-0 and had bad luck rear its ugly head with a broken stick on defense while Auston Matthews pounced on the opportunity to score his 60th goal of the season.

Those things happen throughout a season. Sometimes you have to tip your cap to a great goalie performance and know that sometimes shit happens. But it’s another thing when part of what allowed the Sabres to have many opportunities to get on the board were the six power-plays they had in the game that yielded zero goals.

Many of the same issues the power play has run into this season popped up again, be it struggling to gain the zone or pulling the trigger to shoot rather than look for another pass. The power play has been a problem and continues to be a problem and what very little has clicked hasn’t lasted long enough to become the norm. Instead, what’s normal is expecting nothing to happen for two minutes while the frustration boils up.

“You know that can impact the game in a positive way if the power play’s going,” Sabres coach Don Granato said. “A night like tonight, it’s frustrating, it’s not going, and you had the opportunities you had.”

More on a night where solid play was overshadowed by a long-lingering issue.